A review by 5aru
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I can’t say I didn’t enjoy reading this — and yet, while I really enjoyed My Year of Rest and Relaxation, this one just didn’t quite do it. I think it would’ve done better as a short story; the writing is excellent, but the entire second half of the novella feels like going in circles. Of course, this is also meant as part of the protagonist’s mental state, unstable and unreliable narrator that she is, but — and as much as I really do like Moshfegh’s writing — it simply was drawn out for too long.

I’m still giving it three stars because the concept is so fascinating and it really made me turn the story over in my mind after I was done; the extra half is for the writing. It’s reminiscent of a modernist style in the vein of Virginia Woolf or Henry James, but almost cruel with its surgical, cold precision.
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